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07 Dec 2013

Jonathan Groff

Photo by Joseph Marzullo/WENN

Jonathan Groff, the Tony-nominated Spring Awakening actor who will be seen in the upcoming HBO film version of The Normal Heart as well as the new HBO series "Looking," makes his debut at the Ravinia Festival Dec. 7.

As part of the BGH Classics Series, Groff offers concerts at 5 PM and 8:30 PM in Bennett Gordon Hall. He will be accompanied by musical director Mary-Mitchell Campbell.

Groff previously told Playbill.com that one song that will definitely be on the bill is the classic Irving Berlin ballad "I Got Lost in His Arms" from the musical comedy Annie Get Your Gun. The singing actor credits that 1946 musical, which he saw as an elementary school student at his hometown high school, with igniting his passion for the theatre. "At the end of Act I, I couldn't believe that I got to come back in 15 minutes and see a second act because I was like, 'Oh my God, this is so great!'" he said with a laugh. "So I was telling that story to Mary-Mitchell, and I said, 'I love that score. That score is so amazing, but it's mostly [Annie Oakley's] songs, which is such a bummer. I'd love to sing something from that show, but I'm not going to sing "You Can't Get a Man With a Gun."' And, she said, 'What about, "I Got Lost in His Arms"?' I was like, 'Right!'

"And, we started singing the song, and I immediately burst into tears, and suddenly that song hit me, obviously, in a different way at 28 than it did when I was seven. It suddenly gave me a whole new perspective singing it with where I am in my life now… I just think that song is so beautiful and incredibly meaningful — to have a man at 28 sing it with a different perspective. Hopefully, we'll discover more stuff like that…some pop tunes and some show tunes that we can turn on their head a little bit and make it surprising and interesting for us as well for the crowd."